Amazon

We've seen many diversity reports this year, and they all have one thing in common: a relative lack of diversity. Amazon has joined Facebook, Twitter, Google and others by posting its own numbers, and in them we see that same familiar tale comprised of people who are mostly white and mostly male. The company revealed its workforce statistics in a total of four categories, both for the overall company and for its managers when it comes to gender, and the same narrowed down to just those in the US when it comes to race.

Too expensive, glitchy early software, and missed expectations: Amazon got burned with the Fire Phone, and the company's execs are owning up to that fact - though that doesn't mean it's the last smartphone the online retail behemoth will be doing. Amazon took a $170m hit on the little-loved Android phone - which includes face-tracking cameras, and can be used to visually scan products and then hunt for them on its virtual shelves - confirming a huge write-down on unsold stock in its recent financial results. According to its devices chief, not only is Amazon ready to take the blame for the disaster, but it thinks the problem was incredibly simple.

With the mid-size tablet genre being redefined, Amazon has stepped in with their latest, an 8.9-inch HDX version of the Fire tablet. Taking square aim at the iPad mini and Air, as well as the Nexus 9, this tablet brings a familiar set of specs and viewing experience. Depending on what you want from your tablet, though, the Fire HDX 8.9 might be right for you. To see just how much has improved, and whether or not you should give it a hard look, we took it for a test run.

Amazon's Fire TV Stick seems to have struck a chord, with pre-order demand for the streaming media dongle already so fierce that new orders won't ship until 2015 at the earliest. Announced earlier this week, the Chromecast-rivaling stick proved ambitious not just for undercutting Amazon's existing Fire TV, but by the degree with which it did. Although the sticker price was $39, the retailer offered the adapter for a mere $19 to those with Prime accounts.

Amazon may have been a late entrant into the set-top box space, but that hasn't stopped it already pushing out a second model, with the Fire TV Stick taking a leaf out of Chromecast's playbook by slotting straight into a spare HDMI port behind your TV. Undercutting the original Fire TV box at $39 - though Prime members will, temporarily at least, get an even better deal than that - the stick promises 50-percent more power than Google's dongle as well as 1080p Full HD video and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound, together with three options for remote control.

Google might not be pleased when they realize the implications of Amazon's newest app update. Instead of Amazon relying on you to head to their webpage to download the Amazon App Store app, you've only to download the Amazon App from Google Play. The big deal here is not that Google forbids apps outside their own store - they certainly do not. The big deal here is App Updates. Google forbids that apps that come from the Google Play app store be updated through any other means than the Google Play app store itself.

All the excitement over Apple Pay doesn’t reach as far as some would have hoped. Previously, we told you about Amazon’s reluctance to allow their Amazon Rewards Visa — issued by Chase, a day-one partner for Apple Pay — into your digital wallet. There is relief on that front, but Apple Pay has lost a retail partner in the mix of it all. Rite Aid is no longer accepting Apple Pay payments, but it seems to be more an NFC issue than one with Apple Pay.

You may have heard that Amazon is entering a trying financial period, and that its first ever smartphone isn't helping its cause. Some are pinning the Fire Phone's failure on its exclusive availability to AT&T but now the carrier seems to be trying to make up for lost time, sales, and pride. It is announcing the arrival of the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX, the 7-inch kind, and although you can buy it on its own, AT&T will give you a slightly sweeter deal if you purchase it with the Fire Phone.

Amazon is not having a great afternoon. After reporting an operating loss of $544 million this most recent quarter, Amazon is suggesting that one big reason they're headed into the hole is the Amazon Fire Phone. During their earnings conference call for investors, Amazon representatives suggested that they'd be taking a $170 million charge. This writedown would be "primarily related to Fire phone inventory" as well as "supplier commitment costs."

It's not looking especially good at Amazon right this minute for investors. While operating loss was $25 million USD in Amazon's Q3 of 2013, this quarter (one year later), they've reported operating loss at $544 million. Net loss, on the other hand, was $41 million at this time last year and $437 million this quarter. On a more positive side, Amazon introduced several new products this quarter and increased net sales 20% to $20.58 billion this quarter compared to $17.09 billion one year ago. It may be time for a fire sale, nonetheless.